Mid-Valley
Health Care Advocates (MVHCA) has sponsored forums for state
candidates concerning health issues for some years. This year on
Sept. 25, all candidates for three House districts, 16 (Corvallis
area), 23 (the rural, rather vertical district west of Philomath and
north and south of it, including a small slice of North Corvallis),
and 15 (Albany area) were invited. MVHCA President Bud Laurent and
Vice-President Nadine Grzeskowiak ran the meeting, which included
questions concerning positions on several key health issues asked of
all candidates, and questions posed by the audience for one or more
candidates. The candidates included one Libertarian (district 16) and
one Green (district 23), who with several Democrats and Republicans
offered a wide spectrum of policies.The incumbent (Olson) from Albany
did not attend but incumbents Thompson (23) and Gelser (16) did.

Questions concerning the move toward publicly funded
universal coverage were raised. and several candidates responded YES
when asked if they view health care as a human right. But when asked
about working for a system in the state to provide it, Gelser
declared it is not feasible; Thompson (a member of ALEC) urged that
change of the system needs to be slow (the word he used repeatedly
was incremental, but clearly he meant slow).

These
were the incumbents. Others, such as Alex Polikoff (a Pacific Green
in district 23) and Ron Green (Democrat in district 16) appeared more
positive. Ron Green noted several times that he receives care through
the VA, a single payer system that works well for him. MVHCA believes
that by bringing up the question of health care as a human right and
suggesting that it is a relevant issue, plus continual pressure to
move the question of universal coverage further along, could get
these representatives to the point that they will act on the behalf
of the public.